The Dolores Factor
by Krishmech87
Summary: He's woken up on a planet by the name of Remnant with barely any memory of his past. He gets constant flashbacks in between dreams and the only names he can seem to recall are his own and one other- "Dolores" He picks up bits and pieces of his memory with a little robot friend trailing behind him, and ends up racing against the clock as his life turns into a game of survival.


**JOSHUA**

_I was alive._

I woke up under a starry night sky in the middle of a grassy field with my head feeling like it had been hit with a mace. I could barely remember anything about everything.

_What was my name again?_

_"Joshua"_

That was the only male name I could seem to recall. I repeated it over and over out loud. It fit me fairly well. It had to be my name.

_Why was I here?_

I stood up in an attempt to start walking and immediately fell back down, face first into the dirt. My legs felt like broken twigs. I could barely move them without feeling a sharp pain up my waist equivalent to that of a gunshot.

I sat up in the grass, looking around for a house or a tent that could have possibly provided me an opportunity to gain shelter.

There was nothing but a labyrinth of pine trees for miles around.

I looked down at my torso, realizing that I had been wearing a gray leather jacket along with a pair of jeans. My shirt was ripped open. I looked further down at the rip, and felt instant pain upon seeing the _enormous bleeding scratch across my stomach._

Suddenly, I began to hear unusual growling noises coming from all directions, surrounding me at my little open area in the middle of the forest.

The noise sounded too raspy and loud to have come from a wolf. Whatever it was coming from, it instilled fear within my shattered mind nonetheless. I needed to get away from it, or better yet; defend myself.

I felt a weight on my back, and looked behind myself, opening my mind to the realization that I had been wearing an assault rifle over my back this whole time.

I sighed in relief. This was perfect, considering my situation. I just needed to make sure the gun was working.

I took it off, holding it in my arms and checking it. It was loaded. I felt my pockets to check for a handgun or anything else that could've been useful.

Surely enough, a _SAR ARMS B6P 9mm_ was sitting in my right cheek.

I pulled it out, observing the magazine. It was empty.

Considering the fact that I had been able to identify the type of pistol it was over that of the assault rifle, I might have favored it at some point in the past. I stuffed it back into my pocket, readying the rifle for whatever came my way.

The growling noises got louder as I began to see shadows emerge from the trees around me.

Once they revealed themselves, I began to rub my eyes for a reality check. This had to be some kind of nightmare.

The creatures were pitch black, possessing exoskeleton shells reminiscent to those of deformed human bones. At their faces sat white masks lined with glowing red flames burning through their eye sockets.

_What the hell were these things?_

They began circling around me, walking an inch closer with their hunched bodies every five seconds.

I couldn't just hold them off with the gun._ I needed to walk_.

I staggered onto my feet with my firearm in hand, trying hard not to ignore the pain and failing miserably.

Before I knew it, the creatures were at arm's length, hanging their jaws open and drooling at the sight of my flesh and blood.

Before they could make their next move, I spun around, unloading on them and knocking them down.

I didn't waste time to see if they were dead. I tried walking faster to get to the trees where I wouldn't just be a target in plain sight.

I had managed to walk a few inches before I heard another growling sound from behind.

I turned around to see one of the creatures jumping at me with their claws raised. After that-

My vision became the perfect example of what happens when an old widescreen television is turned off. Everything flickered- _and then went black._

What else was I able to remember?

I had been able to recall my name, and that was all I could get. _What else was sitting around in my head?_

_'Dolores'_

The name was female, or a possible last name. Whatever it meant, it was stuck in my head for a reason- _and I was determined to find out why._

_"Hey, kid"_

Someone was shaking me. I slowly opened my eyes to see a tall man with blonde hair, having two long strands sticking out of the top.

I nimbly lifted my head up to get a closer look at him as his blue eyes widened.

His facial hair consisted of a soul patch with a small stubble along his jawline. A red bandana was wrapped around his left arm. He was wearing cargo shorts accompanied by a brown leather vest over a tan dress shirt.

The right sleeve was missing, exposing the tattoo on his arm that looked reminiscent to a heart.

Was I always this observant?

The man raised an eyebrow at me.

"Are you gonna say something or are you going to keep staring at me like I'm an alien?"

I put a hand up, signaling that I was about to speak.

_"Who are you, and where am I?"_

The man held out his hand to me.

"The name's _Taiyang. Taiyang Xiao Long."_

I sat up to accept the handshake.

"_Joshua_. I can't remember my last name."

Taiyang chuckled.

"Well, at least you didn't make one up."

He then gestured to our surroundings.

"You're in my house, on the island of Patch."

_Patch? Where the hell was Patch?_ I'd never heard of an Island called Patch on Earth. Unless. . .

I hesitated, knowing that the question I was about to ask was going to sound extremely ridiculous.

"Which _planet_ is this?"

As expected, Taiyang looked at me in shock. To my unexpected surprise, he then retracted his expression, putting on a slight smile as though he knew what was going on.

"Well, you're currently in the world of _Remnant_\- the place where humanity is in constant danger of unavoidable forces that want us dead. You must be from _Earth_."

My eyes widened.

"Do people from Earth come here often?"

"Well, we have been getting quite a bit of visits lately involving nonsense with alternate realities and such."

"Do you know how to get me back to Earth?"

Taiyang raised an eyebrow.

"Buddy, you're in no condition to go to whatever home you think you have there with the amnesia you've got right now. Can you remember anything about where you came from on Earth?"

I bit my lip in frustration. He had a point. I shook my head at him. I possessed no memory of where I belonged on Earth.

He frowned.

"Well, wherever you come from on that world, it's obvious that there were dangerous people back there. That scratch I fixed up on your stomach didn't come from those Grimm Beowolves you were attempting to fight. I know what a wound from one of those creatures looks like, and that is definitely not one of them."

I looked down at the huge gause on my stomach. Apparently, those shadowy creatures were referred to as Grimm, and the species I had been holding my own against were known as Beowolves.

I turned my head back to Taiyang, asking the first question that had been on my mind since I woke up in front of him.

"How did you find me?"

He laughed slightly.

"Well, for one, I live on this Island, don't I? You were close by. However, I was only able to get to you because your little friend wouldn't stop bothering me."

_'My little friend?' _What was he talking about?

_"Who?"_

I began to hear a mechanical winding sound as a little robot sped up next to me at my bedside.

The small mech was essentially a rusted metal box with limbs, having treads instead of legs and twin, extendable arm shovels complete with fingers at its sides. It's large, binocular esque eyes made up the entirety of its head connected to the body through a long, thin metal neck.

There was a small label on its blocky torso alongside several other devices I couldn't understand.

It read _'WALL-E'_. Must've been its name.

I put a hand on it's head, slowly brushing the red dust off of the metal surface.

"I don't remember finding this little guy with me."

Taiyang looked down at the robot as I continued to rest my hand on it.

"He rolled up to my porch and wouldn't stop making annoying sounds. The moment I opened the door to do something about him, he just sped away. I followed him to you."

I chuckled slightly, smiling down at Wall-E. He looked up at me and beeped in response. Whatever he said to me, I hoped it had been something positive.

"Thanks for saving me, if you can understand anything I'm saying."

The little mech held out its arm, extending its hand and saying its name in one of the strangest ways possible, dragging out every syllable in a mechanical moan.

_"Woah-Wo-WALL-E. . ."_

I held out my arm, accepting the attempted handshake and introducing myself.

_"Joshua."_

Taiyang laughed at the antic, turning towards the door and looking back at me.

"If you're gonna be here for a while, you're going to have to learn the basics- blending in, getting a job, and keeping a normal life- even if everything in this world is _quite abnormal_ to say the least."

I nodded in agreement.

"So, what am I going to have to do?"

"Seeing as you arrived here with a rifle and a pistol, let's see how good of a fighter you are. Maybe we can work with that. You think it's a good idea?"

At the moment, I hadn't known how skilled I was in terms of combat. However, if something like the Grimm attacked me again, I needed to be prepared.

I got out of the bed and stood up, surprised to find out that my legs felt completely normal. The pain was gone.

"How did I heal so fast?"

"I just activated your _Aura_."

I stared at Taiyang in confusion.

He activated my _'what?'_

He took note of my bewilderment and grinned.

"I'll explain it to you later. Now, come on; let's go."

He walked out of the door and onto the grassy terrain with me trailing behind him.

Wall-E stayed inside, watching us from where he sat.

I did a few stretches in the morning sun, looking back into the house, knowing I'd forgotten something.

"I should probably get my guns for this."

"We won't be needing guns."

He began to slowly walk towards me.

"Why not?"

He pushed me to the ground.

_"I think you know the answer to that."_

We were going to be practicing our current expertise in hand to hand combat. For some odd reason, I felt like fighting without weapons had _never quite been my strong suit._

I quickly got back up, swinging a punch at him.

He ducked and kicked me in the shin, causing me to fall back down in pain.

He looked down at me in concern.

"You sure your legs were fully healed before doing this?"

I ignored the comment and kept picking myself up, no matter how many times he kept knocking me back down.

"Come on Josh, it's a dangerous world out there. You've gotta be ready for it."

_How was he always so calm?_

Taiyang swung at me, attempting to go for the neck. I grabbed his arm with my right, twisting it, and locking it in my grasp.

I used my left to repeatedly punch him in the gut until he'd had enough. Once he had coughed out loud thrice, I let go, and he fell back onto the grass, holding his stomach and groaning in agony.

I held out my hand to him, helping him up.

He gave a slight smile whilst still trying to cope with the pain.

_"Not bad. . .not bad at all."_

I opened my mouth to reply, but had my voice drowned within the sound of an enormous craft hovering above the house.

Taiyang stared up at it in surprise.

"It's an Atlesian vessel."

The massive airship was a futuristic marvel, its gigantic wings folding into its back as it landed in an open field not far from where we stood in the forest- most likely where I had been during my encounter with the nightlife.

Within less than two minutes, a man emerged from the trees, walking over to us and shaking Taiyang's hand as he locked eyes with him, dumbfounded.

_"General Ironwood?"_


End file.
